The Only Son Who Can Make Us Right with God

Seeing Jesus in Genesis

If you’re visiting with us this Easter morning – again, I’d like to affirm that I’m glad that you’re here. I’m glad that God has put it on your heart to come, and to consider the historical weight of Jesus Christ’s life, and his resurrection from the dead. Some of you may be well-acquainted with Jesus already. Others of you, maybe, heard a lot about Jesus when you were younger, but much of that has been forgotten, and you’re interested in making a fresh start. This is a great place to do that. For others of you, Jesus and the Bible may be rather unfamiliar to you – and that’s okay. Our goal together – regardless of where your starting point is – our goal this morning will eventually be to see, with fresh wonder, the distinctive greatness of this only Son of God, Jesus Christ.

But we’re going to do that, today, in a way that may seem unexpected. God has given us parts of the Bible that record Jesus’s life, his death on the cross, and his triumph over death – you can read about those events in the first four books of the New Testament – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. But we’re not going to read from those accounts, this morning. Instead, we’re going to give attention to an event that happened nearly 2,000 years before Jesus’s birth. We’re going to be in the very first book of the Bible, in Genesis, Chapter 22.

For the past couple months, we’ve been in Genesis, working through a sermon series on the life of a man named Abraham. Abraham is a significant person in the Bible. He’s the biological father of the Jewish nation. Abraham is in the family line of Jesus Christ. And he’s the forefather of the Christian church – a forefather in our faith.

And today, as we come to Genesis 22 in this sermon series, we’re going to see what’s probably the most gut-wrenching, dramatic event in Abraham’s entire life. So if you haven’t already, please turn with me to Genesis 22. (If you’re using one of our church Bibles, you can find it on page 15. I’ll be reading the whole chapter, starting at verse 1. But before I read from God’s Word this morning, let’s pray:

[Pray and Read Text]

God, Abraham, and His Only Son, Isaac

Ever since we started this series, back in Genesis 12, we’ve seen how God has been cultivating a special relationship with Abraham. Out of all the people on earth at the time, God specifically singled out Abraham. And Abraham was called to leave behind his old way of life, and to trust in God to bring a number of promised blessings. God promised to make Abraham the father of a great nation, to give his descendants a Land, and to bless all nations through his offspring.

And as we’ve seen, over the past several weeks, Abraham took God’s Word seriously. He believed him. This didn’t mean that Abraham didn’t stumble from time to time. We’ve seen a number of occasions where he made wrong decisions. But even in the midst of Abraham’s waywardness, God’s loyalty to him hasn’t wavered. God has shown Abraham persistent faithfulness and trustworthiness.

We’ve seen this over the past couple weeks, in particular. Because God has proven his trustworthiness to Abraham in a specific way. You may remember, many of God’s promised blessings had been directed to Abraham and his descendants. Yet for the longest time, Abraham didn’t have descendant, to get what God had promised. For years, Abraham waited and trusted, and trusted and waited. And finally, decades later, when Abraham was 100 years old, God miraculously gave him and his wife, Sarah, a son, in connection with those special promised blessings. That long-awaited son – the son to fulfill the promises – his name was Isaac – the same Isaac we just read about in our text.

And with this background in mind, let’s consider Genesis 22, here. This morning, we’ll give attention to four important matters that arise in our text. First, the Offering made to God – I want to explain what offerings like this were for. Second, the Obedience that belongs to Faith, that we see in Abraham’s example. Third, we’ll look at the Oath sworn by God. And then fourth, and finally, we’ll consider the Only Son who brings God’s blessings. These will be my four points: the Offering, the Obedience, the Oath, and the Only Son.

The Offering

The first thing to point out from the text here, then, is the offering – the offering made to God. The LORD speaks from heaven to test Abraham and tells him in, verse 2, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

There’s evidence earlier in Abraham’s life, in Genesis 12:8, and Genesis 13:18, that he had built altars and made burnt offerings to God in the past. The Bible also mentions that Abraham’s forefathers had offered sacrifices – people like Abel and Noah. So for Abraham, the idea of offering sacrifices to God wouldn’t have been new. But for us, the idea of burnt offerings to God may seem strange.

It’s important to point out, though, that when God first had this part of the Bible written, through his prophet Moses – the people who were originally reading about Abraham’s life here knew a lot more about sacrifices than we do. The first readers of Genesis were the same people who were alive when God gave all the rules about priests and burnt offerings that are recorded in the Bible, in the book of Leviticus. So what was the point of sacrifices like this? Why were they significant?

There were different types of sacrifices – they were never human sacrifices, but were instead sacrifices of livestock, grain, or other commodities. Different sacrifices offered for different reasons, in different ways. But generally, burnt offerings, like the ones Abraham was commanded to offer up – they were intended to visibly show certain spiritual truths to God’s people. For one thing, the fire on the altar communicated something about God himself: his purity, his power, and the way that his perfect goodness and justice burns against evil. In addition to this, the death of the sacrificial animal was intended to display the seriousness of our wrongs against God. Sinning against God deserves the death penalty. We’ve rebelled against the God who gave us life – we have used that life wrongly – and so it’s right of him to punish us by taking that life away. But the burnt offerings were also God’s way of showing his people that he was giving them a way for their crimes to be dealt with. They would not need to die for their wrongdoings against God, as long as they had a lamb without spot or blemish offered in their place – as long as they had the right sacrifice, the right substitute, to bear the death penalty in their place.

But, of course, what makes Genesis 22 so shocking – and what makes it different from all the sacrifices that Abraham had offered up until this point – is that God wasn’t asking him to simply offer up a bull, a ram, or some other animal. God was asking him to sacrifice his son.

The Obedience of Faith

And this brings me to my second point – concerning the Obedience of faith, that we see by Abraham’s example. Let’s consider again, the command that God gives and the way that Abraham responds. In verse 2, God tells him: “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I shall tell you.”

The first thing to notice about this command, is that God tells Abraham to take his son, his only Son. A number of you might find it strange that God refers to Isaac here as Abraham’s only son. Because if you’ve been with us for the last few weeks, you probably remember that Abraham had also fathered another son named Ishmael through his wife’s maidservant. But God made it clear that the special promises made to Abraham weren’t for Ishmael – they weren’t coming through Ishmael. And in our text last week, Abraham sent the maidservant and her son away.

So it’s important to keep in mind here, that at this point Isaac was the only son in Abraham’s house. And as the only son, here, he was the focus of Abraham’s deep fatherly love. Isaac was the sole heir to inherit Abraham’s property and carry on his legacy. This was the one and only son Abraham had, now, to bring about the fulfillment of everything God had promised. And this makes it all the more shocking and stunning when God asks Abraham to strike down his son, and to offer Isaac up as a sacrifice.

Now, you and I, as the reader – we’ve already been told in verse 1 that God is testing Abraham here – he’s testing Abraham’s faith. But from Abraham’s perspective, there was no voice over the intercom clarifying, “This is a drill – this is only a drill.” And so you can only imagine how awful and confusing this command would have been to Abraham’s ears. Think of all the questions this would have raised! “Wait, God, aren’t you still committed to your promises? How will you bring your blessings if Isaac is gone? After all that we’ve been through together, are you turning against me now? God, don’t you see how terrible and unreasonable this command is? This is my only Son! Can’t I offer a bull instead? I’ll even offer a thousand bulls! God, please, ask anything else of me, but don’t ask for my son!”

And yet, as Abraham has these heavy questions and distressing concerns swirling around in his mind, he does something stunning. Abraham obeys. Without any arguing or objecting, verse 3 tells us that he rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey. He called two servants and his son. And after cutting the wood for the offering, Abraham set out to carry out the sacrifice.

How is this possible? Is it because Abraham hated Isaac? No, that can’t be – because in verse 2, the God who knows every human heart confirms that Abraham is to sacrifice his only son whom he loves. Is it because Abraham is ignorant or insane? That’s not what’s going on here. Abraham isn’t a simpleton or a lunatic. Instead, in this bizarre test, God is showing us the cogency and completeness of Abraham’s faith.

It becomes obvious, in his obedience, that Abraham isn’t just a fair-weather fan of God. He isn’t just loyal to God, for as long as God promises sunshine and easy roads. But even when faced with this costly command, Abraham continues to trust the Word of God. Abraham continues to believe that God was categorically good and reliable, and that all of God’s commands are for his good. Because of Abraham’s rational and relational faith in God, he obeys.

And Abraham’s faith isn’t foolish or unfounded. For more than two decades, Abraham has been seeing the Lord’s trustworthiness in his life – he’s been assured of God’s good will, with his promised blessings. And Abraham knew what God had said, back in Genesis 21, “Through Isaac your offspring shall be named.” And the certainty of God’s promise is what fortifies Abraham’s faith and gives him the confidence to obey. As Abraham considers God’s promises, he comes to the conclusion that somehow, at the end of all this, Isaac is going to live. Somehow the blessings are still going to come.

And it’s clear that Abraham was settled in this conviction, based on what we see in verse 5. When Abraham, Isaac, and the servants reached their destination, “Then Abraham said to his young men, ‘Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” Abraham tells his servants that both he and Isaac will return from the sacrifice. Why would Abraham make such a wild claim?

We’re told why later in the Bible, in Hebrews 11[:17]. “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” [Then notice what Hebrews 11 says next:] He [Abraham] considered that God was able even to raise [Isaac] from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.” In other words, Abraham obeyed God and offered up his only Son, because he knew that there was no way that his son could stay dead. He was convinced, rightly, that God was going to keep his promises. And that’s why he was prepared to obey God all the way, even when humanly speaking, God’s commands seemed crazy and costly.

And God wants us to see the completeness of Abraham’s faith, here. The way that his confidence in God produced concrete action is intended as an example, to show us how faith in God is intended to operate. Now – let me be clear – the point here isn’t that people of faith should go out and sacrifice their children as a burnt offering. God isn’t asking that of us – and he won’t ask it. That command was something that He gave exclusively to Abraham. And there was a special reason why – there was a special symbolic significance to this command that we’re going to get to later.

But the point of this text for us is simply that our faith should produce obedience, like Abraham’s did. If we believe God, we should be active in carrying out the general commands God gives to his people in Scripture. The example of Abraham’s obedient faith is directly commended to us later in the Bible, in James Chapter 2. His faith is described as being complete, in that his faith wasn’t just a vague affirmation about believing in God. That’s not all that saving faith is. Instead, Abraham’s faith was a genuine personal trust that brought forth active submission to God and his Word. That being said, this doesn’t mean that people of faith will obey God perfectly. It’ll be an ongoing struggle, to walk in this obedience. And we won’t win 100% of our battles. Abraham himself was far from a perfect man. But God shows, through Abraham’s example, that genuine faith makes a difference in us. Wherever this faith in God is present, it will impact how we respond to God’s commands.

I also want to point out in our text, though, look at how God himself evaluates Abraham’s actions here, in verse 12. Before Abraham can follow through on the sacrifice, the angel of the Lord calls from heaven, and says, “Do not lay your hand on the boy, or do anything to him, for now I know that you that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your Son, your only Son, from me.”

It’s pointed out, here, that Abraham’s actions are evidence that he truly fears God – that he has true love, loyalty, respect for the LORD.  But notice, this isn’t just proven in the fact that Abraham obeyed, but in the fullness of how he obeyed. Of all the things Abraham had – of all the things he could have been asked to surrender over to God, there was nothing more precious to Abraham than his son. And yet, even with respect to this greatest of treasures – even with respect to his only Son, Abraham did not withhold him from God. By faith, Abraham demonstrated that nothing in his life was off limits to God. And by faith, we should trust God with our whole lives, too. We are urgently summoned, to give ourselves whole-heartedly to God, to withhold nothing – and to walk in the same manner of faith as our forefather Abraham.

The Oath Sworn by God

But there’s another significant part of the text that I want to consider with you, concerning the oath sworn by God, in verse 16. The angel of the LORD tells Abraham, “By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”

Now, based on how this is worded, it might almost seem like God is saying, “Abraham, because you’ve obeyed me, you have earned your way into my special favor and blessing.” But that can’t be what God’s saying. For one thing, God has been promising blessings to Abraham like this long before Abraham was walking in obedience. And for another thing, blessings are understood in the Bible to be things that are freely given, rather than earned. We see evidence of this in Romans 4:7 and 8. The blessings of life and salvation do not come to us on account of our good works. They come to us on account of our good God. That’s been one of the main themes we’ve seen over the course of Abraham’s life.

Instead, God is actually saying, “Abraham, because you’ve obeyed me, I am giving you further assurance of my promised blessings.” Over the course of God’s dealings with Abraham, he has confirmed his promises in multiple ways already – in Genesis 15, he visibly entered into an binding agreement with Abraham, to confirm these things. And in Genesis 17, he gave Abraham the ongoing covenant sign of circumcision. And now, God provides further assurance that his blessings are coming to Abraham, by confirming his promise with a solemn oath. And he does this, he gives this added assurance, as a reward for Abraham’s obedience.

And though it’s a little bit different in our case, God rewards our obedience with greater assurance, too. When our faith in Christ is producing obedience, that obedience is evidence – God gives us assurance by it – that his grace is really at work in our lives. Of course, the primary basis of our assurance is God’s own trustworthiness – His unbreakable word. But God intends for our obedience to bolster our assurance in a secondary way. And as we’re assured of our participation in his promised blessings, that assurance is a gift that will fill our lives with peace, hope, and love for God.

The Only Son

But as we reflect on the text as a whole, we need to understand that there’s even more to this text, beyond what it’s saying about Abraham, and his only son, Isaac. In this event, we’re given a glimpse of a different son descended from Abraham – a different son who was sacrificed – the only Son of God. And this will be my last point, this morning, concerning the Only Son.

God had a very specific point in asking Abraham to sacrifice his son, his only son, whom he loves. In this event, God was communicating something important to Abraham about the future. The sacrifice of this only son, Isaac, was intended to foreshadow how a different son from Abraham’s line, Jesus Christ would be sacrificed nearly 2000 years later.

There are a number of ways that God brings this to light in the text. First, there are a number of key similarities between the sacrifice of Isaac, and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. At Mount Moriah, Abraham’s only Son, Isaac, carries a load of wood to the top of the hill. As Jesus went to the place of his death, he also carried a load of wood – the cross (for a good portion of the way, at least). And just as Isaac was bound up and lifted onto the wood, Jesus was lifted up onto the wood, as well. And just as Isaac’s Father, lifted his hand to strike the death blow upon his Son, so it was that God the Father lifted his hand to strike down the Son, as a sacrifice for the sins of his people. There’s an unmistakable resemblance.

But Jesus is previewed here in another way, as well – as the substitute God provides to die in the place of Isaac. Even before Abraham and Isaac get to the top of the hill, Isaac asks, [in the middle of verse 7], “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” And notice how Abraham replies, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering.“ It’s not clear how much Abraham understood when he spoke in that moment. But certainly you and I are supposed to be asking – what do you mean, God will provide the lamb? What lamb are you talking about?

By the time we get to verse 13, it appears that we have an answer. Because Abraham looks up, and he sees a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And the ram is offered up as a sacrifice instead of Isaac. Abraham worships, and calls the name of that place “the LORD will provide.”

But as it turns out, the ram in the thicket isn’t the ultimate lamb provided by God after all! The long-awaited lamb – the true substitute for Isaac, and for Abraham, to be offered up for their sins, and ours – it was Jesus. The Bible frequently likens him to a sacrificial lamb – and it’s intentional. The lamb who has been once-for-all provided for us is the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” Isaac was spared from the death blow and the burning of God’s justice against sin, because Jesus was sacrificed in his place.

And yet Genesis here isn’t only a picture of the sacrifice and the death of the Only Son of God. But this event also foretells his resurrection, and his glory. The release of Isaac from death is intended to prefigure the even greater way in which Jesus was released from death, by the power of his indestructible life.

And if it wasn’t already clear that Genesis 22 was talking about Jesus, it becomes clear, in verse 17. Because after God promises to bless and multiply Abraham’s offspring (at this point talking about many, many offspring who would be descended from him) then God makes another promise to Abraham – not about many offspring – but about one of his offspring in particular. He says, “And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies.” The original Hebrew is clear on this. It doesn’t say that Abraham’s offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies – plural. But the offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies. So God’s promise is talking about a special, chosen son from Abraham’s line. And God promises that this Son, will gain absolute dominion, even over the mightiest strongholds of his enemies – he will possess their gates. He will gain the ultimate victory against every evil force – against cancer and dementia, against anxiety and depression, against sin and Satan – even against death itself.

And today, on Easter Sunday, we’re reminded that God has kept his Word. The son of this Promise – Jesus Christ – he has come. The good news of Christ isn’t just that he came to die, but also that he has won a decisive victory, and he lives! And he has done this, not just for his own sake, but in order to bring the blessings of that victory to you. To me.

God adds to his promise in verse 18, to tell Abraham, “and in your offspring (in Jesus) shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” Jesus is the bringer of God’s blessings to the nations. Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham. It doesn’t matter where people are from – their ethnic background, social status, income level, or skin color – for anyone and everyone who is trusting in Christ, the victory he has won will be our victory. The blessings from God that Jesus has laid hold of will become our blessings.

So the message of Easter isn’t just that Jesus has risen from the dead. On Easter we’re reminded that the blessings of resurrection and eternal life – these things are held out to us, as well! The resurrection isn’t only good news for Jesus – it’s good news for us. You and I are called to be believe in the only Son, and to be assured of the blessings that he brings. so let’s do this as a church in Mount Pleasant. So let’s follow in the faith of Abraham, and let’s look to the one God has provided to save us, and to raise us.